Star-studded Superbike grid for ASBK opener

Twenty-six riders, five manufacturers, seasoned champions, teenage stars and fearless rookies: round one of the 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) at Phillip Island from February 21-23 already has the hallmarks of an instant classic.

The start of every ASBK Championship always arrives with huge anticipation, and so it is again in 2025 as Victorian Josh Waters (McMartin Racing Ducati) begins his defence of the SW-Motech-backed Superbike crown against all his major opposition from last year, as well as some new and exciting faces.

Once again, the ASBK opener will be held alongside the FIM Motul Superbike World Championship, which also include the first rounds of the Australian Supersport and Race and Road Supersport 300 Championships.

While the likes of Waters, reigning No. 2 Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team), Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati), Anthony West (Addicted to Track) and Arthur Sissis (Stop and Seal Yamaha) maintain ASBK Superbike incumbency, elsewhere there has been some major movements with Max Stauffer, Cru Halliday, Cameron Dunker and Glenn Allerton all checking into new homes and Tom Edwards returning home after two-and-a-bit seasons in World Supersport. Troy Herfoss will also compete on a Ducati, but under a new umbrella.

Stauffer has replaced Halliday at the Yamaha Racing Team, Halliday’s now a Stop and Seal Yamaha rider, Dunker’s moved to MotoGo Yamaha, while three-time Superbike champion Allerton has joined the new Superbike Advocates Racing operation on a Ducati.

After a few fleeting Superbike outings in 2024, Tom Toparis will be a permanent rider in the premier class for Stop and Seal Yamaha, while full-blown ASBK rookie status belongs to reigning Supersport champion Jonathan Nahlous (Complete AV Yamaha) and Jack Favelle (Yamaha).

Nahlous, Favelle, West, Allerton and Dunker all completed impressive Phillip Island ASBK shakedowns at the recent Victorian Road Race Championship, which included spicy battles with fellow Aussie and former ASBK champion Josh Brookes.

The quintet all impressed, but they know the stakes will be higher, the spotlight much brighter and the tempo raised during the three 12-lappers at Phillip Island on February 22-23: one race on Saturday and two on Sunday.

Waters is seemingly impervious to pressure – especially at Phillip Island – winning all three races in last year’s corresponding round after exhilarating battles with teammate Harrison Voight and Troy Herfoss in what was a Ducati podium lockout. The clean sweep set up Waters for a landmark season which saw him become the first four-time ASBK Superbike champion.

Voight, who holds a new national Superbike record of 1m30.790s, will also return for the opening ASBK round in 2025 as he gets local track time ahead of another European Moto2 campaign.

Voight defeated Waters in a McMartin Racing intra-team shootout during the last ASBK round at Phillip Island in September 2024, so that battle could reignite as the first potential flashpoint of the 2025 season.

Could three-time champion Herfoss be the potential fly in the McMartin Racing ointment? The three-time Superbike champion is a consummate professional, and knows when it’s time to flick the switch into race mode.

The 26-rider Phillip Island ASBK field also includes impressive Queenslander John Lytras (Caboolture Yamaha), veteran Western Australian Adam Senior (Senior Engineering Yamaha) and ASBK stalwart Matthew Walters (Newcastle Hino Aprilia), while Declan Carberry (DSM Construction BMW) and Japanese visitor Kota Higuchi (HLO Racing Suzuki) will make it five manufacturers on the grid.

Higuchi, 45, will bring a welcome international flavour to the ASBK opener, having been a leading privateer in the All Japan Road Race Championship and a regular in the Suzuka 8 Hours world endurance race.

Tickets for the ASBK and WorldSBK round are available here.